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Monday, March 17, 2025
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Outlook 2025: Anthony Amicangioli, HPR

By
Editorial Staff
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Anthony Amicangioli is Founder and CEO of HPR.

How do you differentiate yourself from peers in capital markets and how do you expect your position in the marketplace to evolve in the next few years?

Anthony Amicangioli, HPR
Anthony Amicangioli, HPR

HPR is a leading provider of capital markets infrastructure (CMI), comprised of both hardware and software-based products and services, for top-tier buy-side and sell-side firms and exchanges.

Since our founding in 2011, we have remained steadfast in building a comprehensive platform designed for simplicity and efficiency. This disciplined approach has enabled HPR to create solutions that meet diverse client needs; from our flagship enterprise risk solution and software-based market access gateways to hardware-based risk systems, ensuring seamless integration, scalability, and reliability in pricing and performance.

While most providers specialize in either hardware or software, our platform does both exceptionally well. It elegantly integrates hardware and software, in a proximity cloud service to deliver unprecedented speed, stability, and security. HPR intends to completely modernize the CMI electronic trading stack.

What was the highlight of 2024?

The theme for 2024 was growth, optimization, and globalization. Our platform set new records this year, trading over 19 billion shares in a single day – a true testament to its resilience and ability to handle the highest trading volumes.

In line with our vision to create the exchange platform of the future, we dedicated significant engineering resources to enhancing HPR Hypercube, our fully hardware-based matching engine, which outperforms current exchange architectures by a factor of 100 with a hardware package 1/10 the size and power consumption. Additionally, we reduced latency to 250 nanoseconds in our flagship Riskbot® solution for enterprise pre-trade risk management.

We have grown the sales, product, and marketing functions, and are actively engaging new market participants. We continued to onboard global, tier-1 banks on our enterprise risk stack. We also commercialized DatabotTM, our low-latency, market data solution. HPR is continuing to grow in new international markets across APAC, the Middle East, and Latin America. To support this effort, we launched operations in Sydney.

What are your expectations for 2025?

With the introduction of our hardware-based matching engine technology, Hypercube, we are establishing a brand-new normal for trading with one hundred times the power and performance. As such, requirements for performance solutions in other areas like market data and access will also increase. We expect 2025 to be a breakout year for us as demand for our offerings will accelerate as markets advance.

According to Coalition Greenwich’s Market Structure Trends to Watch in 2025, “ATSs are eroding on-exchange market share, nonbank market makers are picking up market share (and clients) from big banks, and capital markets fintech firms are doing both of those and more. These agile newcomers are leveraging cutting-edge technology, innovative business models and a customer-centric approach without the hangover of legacy technology and operational complexity.” With Hypercube, we believe HPR is a formidable and agile newcomer ready to disrupt the trading landscape as we know it.

We have already achieved great success in meeting our targets to address functionality and global geographic coverage. We plan to accelerate our efforts to provide a more seamless and unified solution across major asset classes in the second half of 2025. This will herald the completion of our three-axis plan to grow a comprehensive portfolio across regions and asset classes, while providing holistic capabilities for our partners.

How do you see financial technology changing in the next five years?

Top technology platform companies like Google and Amazon are racing to increase data center efficiency (power consumption, compute power per rack unit) as Moore’s law wanes. However, this trend seems to be unaddressed and all but unknown in the financial sector. This race will yield solutions with increased FPGA off-load technology as well as wholesale upgrades of legacy software applications to hardware-based appliances.

The current and prevalent notion that innovation is slowing and settling on the present legacy software stack-solutions fails to recognize that there is much more innovation to come as high-density hardware-based appliances begin to displace certain critical applications in the CMI space.

HPR is a major driver of this paradigm and is pioneering the future of capital markets. We built our entire suite of solutions with this in mind since inception. Our latest offering, the Hypercube, is a matching engine that consists entirely of hardware, which has never been done before. In a market where everyone is competing for the best orders, the Hypercube will usher in the next generation of electronic trading, democratizing markets and leveling the playing field for all participants.

TECH TUESDAY: IPO Revival Likely to Continue into Mid-2025

By
Phil Mackintosh and Michael Normyle, Nasdaq
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TECH TUESDAY is a weekly content series covering all aspects of capital markets technology. TECH TUESDAY is produced in collaboration with Nasdaq.

When we introduced the Nasdaq IPO Pulse a year ago, we said it suggested that U.S. “IPO activity… should remain in an uptrend” as we headed into 2024. 

Then, when we introduced the Nasdaq Stockholm IPO Pulse in September, we wrote that it “suggests [Stockholm] IPO activity… is likely to remain in an uptrend in the coming months.”

And now, it looks like our IPO Pulses were right!

2024 was a year of recovery for IPO activity in the U.S. and Stockholm

Following the earlier upturns in our U.S. and Stockholm IPO Pulses, actual IPO activity also recovered – in both the U.S. and Stockholm – in 2024.

According to Nasdaq’s data, the U.S. saw 179 non-SPAC IPOs in 2024 – the most since 2021, and a 40% increase over 2023 (127). By value raised (ex SPACs), it was an even better year, with value raised increasing over 50% from 2023 to $30 billion – also the most since 2021.

Plus, the year ended strong, with Q4 having the most non-SPAC IPOs in a quarter (53) in three years.

Sweden saw a more than 60% jump in IPOs in 2024 (23) compared to 2023 (14 IPOs). Sweden also closed the year strong, with Q4 having the most IPOs in a quarter (10) in 2½ years.

U.S. led global IPOs, followed by Asia, while some major markets lagged

Not only did the U.S. have a strong year for IPOs when compared to recent years, but also when compared to the rest of the world.

According to FactSet data (including SPACs), the U.S. had over 250 IPOs in 2024. 

After the U.S., the list was dominated by Asian (and Emerging) Markets, which took 12 of the top 14 spots. 

European markets rounded out the top 20 in the chart (Sweden took 15th place), but there are some major European economies missing from this list, including France and the Netherlands, which both fell outside the top 20.

Chart 1: U.S. leads global IPO activity in 2024, followed by Asian markets

U.S. leads global IPO activity in 2024, followed by Asian markets

Since most countries have very different sized economies and stock markets, it’s a little unfair to compare countries by a simple count of IPOs. 

A “fairer” comparison is to look at the percentage increase in listings due to IPOs in each country. We show that in the grey circles. By that measure, 11 countries – including the U.S. (5%) – were clustered in the 4%-6% range. The clear winners in 2024 were Macedonia (14%) and Saudi Arabia (12%). While China, Australia and the U.K. scored the lowest.

Nasdaq IPO Pulse near high, indicating continued uptrend in U.S. IPOs

Even though 2024 was the best year for U.S. IPOs in three years, some commenters think 2025 will be an even better year. Right now, the cyclical drivers of future IPO activity captured by the Nasdaq IPO Pulse look pretty supportive. 

While the IPO Pulse ticked down in December, it’s just off October’s 3¼-year high, suggesting U.S. IPO activity should remain in an uptrend into mid-year.

Chart 2: The Nasdaq IPO Pulse suggests IPO activity will hold up into mid-2025 

The Nasdaq IPO Pulse suggests IPO activity will hold up into mid-2025

Nasdaq Stockholm IPO Pulse off its high, but not yet signaling a downturn

For Stockholm, the IPO Pulse upturn has faded, but is not yet at the point that it’s clearly indicating a downturn is ahead.

The Nasdaq Stockholm IPO Pulse was in an unambiguous upturn through the first half of 2024, reaching a 2½-year high in June (chart below, blue line). Since then, it’s come off that high, but it remained above October’s eight-month low in December.

Chart 3: The Stockholm IPO Pulse sees a continued upturn in IPO activity into the spring 

The Stockholm IPO Pulse sees a continued upturn in IPO activity into the spring

Given this recent softening, we can test whether it’s truly signaling a downturn in IPO activity by comparing it to its past downturns. That’s because most of those past downturns genuinely anticipated downtrends in IPO activity, while a couple were false alarms.

Fortunately, based on that comparison, this recent slowing currently looks slightly more similar to historical false alarms, so the Stockholm IPO Pulse is not yet conclusively indicating a directional shift in IPO activity.

That means we should expect Stockholm IPO activity to stay in an uptrend for now, but our next update in April should help clarify whether a near-term downturn is likely.

U.S. and Stockholm IPO Activity likely to stay in uptrends into Q2 2025

2024 was a year of recovery for IPO activity in the U.S. and Stockholm. And based on our IPO Pulses, IPO activity looks likely to stay in an uptrend into mid-year – especially in the U.S.

Of course, a lot can change over the course of a year, so we’ll be updating our Nasdaq IPO Pulses each quarter to see if these uptrends will continue beyond mid-year, or if a directional shift lies ahead. 

Phil Mackintosh is Chief Economist at Nasdaq. Michael Normyle is U.S. Economist and Senior Director at Nasdaq.

Creating tomorrow’s markets today. Find out more about Nasdaq’s offerings to drive your business forward here.

ON THE MOVE: Kirsten Wegner to IIA; JPMorgan Chase Names Jennifer Piepszak

By
Anna Lyudvig
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Kirsten Wegner, MMI
Kirsten Wegner

The Index Industry Association (IIA) has appointed Kirsten Wegner as its new Chief Executive Officer. Wegner succeeds Rick Redding following his retirement after 13 years as the IIA’s CEO since its founding in 2012. In this role, she will work with the IIA’s 17 member firms and its Board of Directors to set high level strategic direction, lead the IIA’s public policy and communications initiatives, serve as an index industry spokesperson and represent the IIA in front of policy makers, regulators, investors and other key industry stakeholders. Previously, Wegner spent eight years at Modern Markets Initiative (MMI), with the last seven as CEO, where she led advocacy initiatives on public policy, educated key stakeholders and built consensus on issues surrounding fintech, artificial intelligence and market automation. Prior to that she was Government Relations Director at the International Securities Exchange and established political and policy strategy for the first all-electronic options exchange.

Jennifer Piepszak

Daniel Pinto, JPMorgan Chase’s President and Chief Operating Officer, who has served the firm for more than 40 years, has informed of his decision to retire at the end of 2026. Pinto will relinquish his responsibilities as President and COO as of June 30, 2025. This will allow him to effectively transition those responsibilities in the coming months. He will continue to serve the company as Vice Chairman of JPMorgan Chase working closely with and advising the CEO and other senior executives on key projects, client relationships and complex issues facing the firm. Jennifer Piepszak, Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Commercial & Investment Bank (CIB), has been named Chief Operating Officer of the company, effective immediately, working closely with Pinto over the next few months.

Corey Geis

Investcorp has announced that Neil Rickard, Managing Director and Head of Credit Research in Europe, will become Co-Head with responsibility for the European business, alongside Corey Geis, currently Managing Director and Head of Trading and Capital Markets in the US, who will become Co-Head with responsibility for the US business. Their new positions become effective April 1, 2025. Rickard has been a part of the Credit Management team in Europe since 2011. Prior to this, Neil worked at Mizuho Corporate Bank from 2005. Geis has been a part of the Credit Management team in US since 2017 and has almost three decades’ experience in credit, including at GoldenTree Asset Management and TD Securities. Both Jeremy Ghose and Tom Shandell are retiring from their current executive roles as global head Credit Management and head of liquid credit investments in the US respectively. From April 1, Ghose will step down to become non-executive Chairman of the business and continue to participate in various investment committees until his retirement on July 31, 2025, while Shandell will continue to provide support and continue to participate on the US credit investment committee until his retirement on June 30, 2025.

Apex Group has appointed Zion Hilelly as a new Chief Product officer, based in New York. Prior to joining Apex Group, Hilelly was the Head of Operations and Managed Services within S&P Global, where he ran multiple industry leading investment management solutions. Hilelly is BlackRock veteran having worked at the asset manager from its early days for over 20 years. As a Managing Director, Hilelly was responsible for launching, developing and leading many of the post-trade products and capabilities of the firm’s flagship Aladdin platform.

Scott Mitchell has been appointed Chief Executive Officer at InspereX. He succeeds John DesPrez III, who is retiring after serving as the firm’s CEO since his appointment in January 2015. Mitchell joins InspereX after a 20-year career at J.P. Morgan, where he held progressively senior positions across Equity Derivatives and Cross-Asset Structured Investments Sales and Marketing. He first joined J.P. Morgan in 2004 to co-head U.S. Third-Party Structured Investments Sales, launching the firm’s third-party distribution business, as well as its brokered CD platform.

FIA has hired Melissa Brunton as a new Senior Vice President of Global Events, Marketing and Communications. She joins the FIA team from the Direct Selling Association (DSA), where she served as SVP of Education and Meeting Services. In addition to hiring Brunton, FIA announced Will Acworth’s promotion to Global Head of Market Intelligence. 

Reid Cheyne has joined Pirum as Director of Fixed Income Sales, Americas. Reid brings over 25 years’ Securities Finance and Fixed Income experience in many leadership roles, ranging from trading and financing to sales and brokerage, across banks, broker dealers and interdealer brokers. Most recently, at Citi, Reid moved from directing Fixed Income Prime Services Sales to lead Financing Sales for Hedge Funds. Previously Reid held VP roles at Abbey National Securities and Citicorp Securities, as well as Managing Director at Capital Markets Engineering and Trading.

Droit has appointed Somerset Pheasant as Chief Strategy Officer. Somerset brings over 15 years of experience in the financial industry and served on the Droit board from 2016 to 2023. In his most recent role as Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, he managed the strategic investing business globally and established the European Firmwide Strategy team.

If you have a new job or promotion to report, let me know at alyudvig@marketsmedia.com

Outlook 2025: Dar Nazem, GTS

By
Editorial Staff
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Dar Nazem is COO of GTS.

What surprised you in 2024?

Dar Nazem

I joined GTS in the second half of 2024, so going in, I was aware that GTS made markets in over 10,000 global names and was powered by incredible technology. What surprised me was how the IP and technology stack could be leveraged for other businesses across our organization, enabling us to provide deeper liquidity and tighter spreads in the market. We are seeing significant synergies across the entire franchise.

What are your expectations for 2025?

We expect to continue growing our multi-asset client franchise businesses across Equities and FX. This spans everything from our ETF to Wholesale Market Making to FX businesses, as well as our NYSE Designated Market Making and Floor Broker activities. From the COO seat, we are focusing a lot of our efforts on operational excellence and simplifying workflows across the stack to facilitate faster decision-making—not just on the trading side but across the entire franchise, including front, middle, and back-office.

What are you most excited for in 2025?

There are two major themes we’re excited about and focused on: First, with the impending change of guard at the SEC, we look forward to seeing how market structure regulation will evolve under the new administration. Our Co-Founder and CEO, Ari Rubenstein, testified before the House Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets last year, clearly outlining GTS’s stance, and you’ll undoubtedly hear more thought leadership from GTS in 2025 regarding our market structure viewpoints and the impact to markets and specifically our trading partners and clients. We’re eager to continue to expand upon our expertise and data-driven approach to help clients tackle trading challenges while remaining a highly trusted counterparty.

Second, we have ambitious plans in place across all of our business units and our technology and operations organizations. We are particularly excited about growing our business units while continually calibrating the organization to ensure GTS is well-positioned to consistently deliver superior liquidity solutions while providing concierge-level client service.

Fund Managers Innovate to Unlock Retail Access to Private Markets

By
Shanny Basar
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Martin Small, chief financial officer of BlackRock, said creating a single managed account to provide access to private markets for financial advisors and their clients will be a “huge unlock.”

Retail wealth investors allocated $2.3 trillion to private markets in 2020 and are expected to increase their allocations to $5.1 trillion by 2025 according to a Morgan Stanley/Oliver Wyman Study. BlackRock expects managed model portfolios to roughly double in assets under management over the next five years, growing into a $10 trillion business.

Source: BlackRock

Small spoke about the asset manager’s aims to help wealth managers build long-term portfolios that blend public and private markets on BlackRocks’ results call on 15 January. He highlighted that wealth manager and retail allocations to private markets are currently in the low single-digits according to recent data from Cerulli Associates.

“We are focused on innovating to provide better access to private markets for wealth managers and retail investors across taxable and non-taxable accounts, and retirement accounts,” Small added.

In September 2024 BlackRock established a strategic partnership with private assets manager Partners Group to launch a model portfolio solution which provides access to private equity, private credit and real assets in a single portfolio, which is currently not available to the US wealth market. BlackRock’s alternatives team and whole portfolio capabilities powered by its technology platform, Aladdin, will be combined with Partners Group’s investment platform and portfolio management capabilities.

 Steffen Meister, Partners Group

Steffen Meister, executive chairman of Partners Group, said in a statement: “This separately managed account solution has the potential to revolutionize the wealth management industry, setting a new benchmark for institutional-quality programs that meet wealth investors’ private markets portfolio needs.”

Small continued that creating model portfolios with different risk tolerances that blend public and private assets and that manage the cashflows on a single subscription will be a “huge unlock.”  One of the barriers to adoption of private markets with wealth managers is the operational burden of managing multiple subscription documents, cashflows and distributions.

“We think a managed account can do that better and increase access,” Small added.

In contrast to the US, BlackRock launched an ‘evergreen’ private markets platform for wealth investors in Europe under the region’s Long-Term Investment Fund (ELTIF) 2.0 structure, with initial funds in private equity and multi-alternatives. BlackRock also wants to launch evergreen funds in infrastructure and private credit. Small said Blackrock is looking at bringing similar evergreen structures to the US.

Partners Group launched the first US private equity evergreen fund in 2009, which is currently the largest in the market at $15.5bn. As of 30 June 2024, evergreen funds accounted for almost one third, 30%, of Partners Group’s global assets.

 Martin Small, BlackRock

“I think that the biggest opportunity ahead of us is to integrate semi-liquid products and private markets into our $300bn+ managed models and SMA (separately managed accounts) franchise,” Small added. “That would be the biggest unlock and I think it’s our competitive advantage.”

On 14 January 2025 Hamilton Lane, a private markets manager with more than $947bn in assets, and Republic, an investment platform for private market assets, announced that they intend to launch a digital blockchain-based solution for retail investors in the first half of this year. Hamilton Lane said data shows that the majority of private markets funds have outperformed their public market equivalents in 19 of the last 20 years.

“This partnership is believed to represent a major step forward in expanding access to this historically high-performing investment category and empowering retail investors with new wealth generation opportunities,” added Hamilton Lane.

ETFs 

The exchange-traded fund structure is also expected to play a greater role in allowing access to a broader range of alternative investments according to a report from Cerulli Associates in December 2024. In 2019 commodities and real estate ETFs made up two thirds, 65%, of what Cerulli defines as alternative category ETFs. In the second quarter of 2024 that fell to 37%, as derivative income, defined outcome, and cryptocurrency categories increased.

“Rapidly, the alternative investment offerings in the ETF structure have shifted from simple passive holdings to more active strategies that provide advisors with specific outcomes such as greater income and predefined return profiles,” said Cerulli.

For example, State Street and alternatives manager Apollo Global Management filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2024 to launch an actively managed ETF that invests in public and private credit.

Morningstar, the asset manager research provider, said in a report: “Other ETFs have attempted to offer private credit exposure through public investments, but this one would be the first to hold private credit directly—a strategy that comes with challenges.”

Challenges include private credit being illiquid and valuations, as instruments rarely trade.

“The State Street-Apollo venture is sure to be just the first of many private-market ETF proposals,” said Morningstar. “BlackRock has announced a private-investment model portfolio with private equity firm Partners Group. Invesco and Goldman Sachs have kicked the tires on private investments in ETFs.”

 Daniil Shapiro, Cerulli

Cerulli’s research found that about half of advisors do not use alternative investments exposures due to a mix of concerns about liquidity, heightened fees, product complexity, and burdensome subscription/redemption processes on the illiquid side combined with a lack of liquid private capital product.

Daniil Shapiro, director of Cerulli, said in a statement: “While not a perfect replacement to illiquid private capital exposures, an ETF could be exactly the thing for a cohort of financial advisors looking to initiate use of true alternative investments exposures with greater operational ease.

Private markets outlook

Blackrock’s 2025 Private Markets Outlook said private markets allocations will continue growing across all client segments, especially wealth.

Source: BlackRock

“Allocations to private markets in wealth management remain in their infancy—just 1%-2% for individual investors and nearly zero for defined contribution systems globally,” added BlackRock. “Even modest increases will drive growth.”

Private credit and infrastructure currently make up about 20% of private markets, but by 2030 BlackRock expects this to grow to 30%. Private credit is being driven by firms diversifying their funding beyond banks to longer-dated liability investors such insurance, pensions, and wealth. Infrastructure is driven by the fiscal constraints of states with aging populations, the artificial intelligence and data center revolution and the energy transition.

BlackRock noted that democratization of private markets comes with challenges such as portfolio construction expertise to build diversification while providing a degree of liquidity; and the necessary modelling to predict cashflows, manage liquidity and optimize holdings.

 Source: Firebrand Research

“We are still in the early stages of this new phase in the private markets, with rapid developments in product design, regulatory frameworks, as well as the tools and solutions for clients,” said BlackRock.

 Nelson Chu, Percent

Percent, the private credit technology provider, said in its 2025 Private Credit Forecast that asset-based financing, such as merchant cash advances, trade receivables and equipment loans, is poised for significant growth; and that direct lending, including senior debt, mezzanine financing and unitranche loans, will remain a key driver for institutional investors.

Investors will also seek broader segmentation across deal types, company sizes and geographies to optimize risk-adjusted returns in both developed and emerging markets according to the report.

Nelson Chu, founder and chief executive of Percent, said in a statement: “As we enter 2025, banks’ entry into private credit signals the asset class’s resilience and appeal. Yet, the lower middle market remains a largely untapped frontier, where financing gaps left by traditional lenders are most pronounced.”

Myles Milston, co-founder and chief executive of  an automated capital markets platform Globacap, said in an email that private markets are growing at double the rate of public markets and advancements in technology are simplifying access.

“It’s not just asset managers driving this growth; we’ve seen significant increases in allocations from private wealth, pension funds, and more,” said Milston. “Private markets have evolved beyond merely being an inflationary hedge – they’re rapidly becoming the crown jewel of modern investment portfolios.”

Jefferies Raises $10m to Support Los Angeles Wildfire Relief

By
Press Release
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Jefferies announced that it will donate $10 million to charities providing aid for first responders and the people and communities impacted by the wildfires across Los Angeles.

The donation includes funds from Jefferies, voluntary contributions from its nearly 6,000 worldwide employees, and proceeds from the firm’s January 16 Doing Good Global Trading Day, which set aside 100% of net global trading commissions for charities.

Rich Handler, CEO, and Brian Friedman, President of Jefferies, said: “We are so grateful for how the Jefferies network stepped up to support those in need in Los Angeles. These wildfires have inflicted heartbreaking devastation on communities and so many families, and we hope this donation will help deserving charities provide urgently needed relief.”

OrganizationCharity DescriptionAllocation
Los Angeles Fire Department FoundationThe LAFD is actively seeking funds to equip LAFD members battling wildfires with tools and supplies.$2,000,000
All Hands and Hearts (AHAH)All Hands and Hearts is a volunteer-powered nonprofit that addresses the immediate and long-term needs of communities impacted by disasters.$1,000,000
Global Empowerment MissionDelivers emergency aid supplies such as non-perishable food items, water, hygiene products, and other life-saving goods such as temporary shelters, generators and medical supplies.$1,000,000
Habitat for Humanity Greater Los AngelesHabitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles (Habitat LA) builds and repairs homes in partnership with hardworking, low income families and individuals.$1,000,000
PEF Eaton Fire Response FundEmergency fund to address the immediate needs and ensure resources reach local schools and families as they navigate this crisis.$1,000,000
The California Community FoundationA community foundation that addresses health, housing and economic development in Los Angeles County.$1,000,000
Pasadena HumaneProvides lifesaving programs and services for animals.$500,000
The Farmlink ProjectThe Farmlink Project connects farmers to communities facing food insecurities. The organization is partnering with LA communities to deliver truckloads of fresh produce within 24hrs to communities in need.$500,000
ChrysalisChrysalis serves people navigating barriers to the workforce by offering a job-readiness program, individualized supportive services, and paid transitional employment.$500,000
Saint John’s Fire Relief FundSupports hospital caregivers in Santa Monica who have lost their home or places of living due to the devasting fires.$500,000
Wags and WalksWorks to reduce euthanasia in local shelters and increase awareness of rescue dogs.$250,000
Baby2BabyDistributes emergency supplies for the most vulnerable children and families who have lost everything in the Los Angeles fires including diapers, food, formula, water, clothing, blankets and hygiene products.$250,000
A Sense of HomeWorks with foster youth to provide a home and a community.$250,000
Your Palisades ParkProvides the community recreational opportunities, places to meet and support one another, gather together, share meals and community in a safe environment for those displaced.$250,000

Total: $10 Million

Jefferies is committed to making a difference to better our global community. Jefferies has previously held Global Trading Days at times of need, which raised more than $70 million just in the past five years for charities responding to humanitarian crises and natural disasters.

Source: Jefferies

Derivatives Group Publishes Paper on Position Transfers

By
Press Release
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DMIST Publishes Consultation Paper on Position Transfers

Washington, DC — DMIST, the Derivatives Market Institute for Standards, today published a proposed standard aimed at improving the processing of position transfers in the exchange-traded derivatives markets. This is the third standard proposed by DMIST, an independent organization formed by FIA in July 2022, to promote greater efficiency in the trading and clearing workflow for derivatives. 

Today’s action kicks off a consultation process with industry stakeholders that will last until March 21. DMIST aims to finalize the standard by the end of the Q2 2025. Any member of the public may submit a comment, and DMIST will post all comments at its website. 

The proposed Standard Regarding Position Transfers applies to the process of moving an open position from one account to another at the same clearing member firm or between different clearing member firms. Position Transfers are used to manage risk, optimize margin, correct allocations, balance portfolios, change clearing relationships and address changes in beneficial ownership due to mergers and acquisitions. 

Today the Position Transfer process is almost completely manual. DMIST believes a standard would increase operational efficiency and resiliency, reduce operational and regulatory risk by minimizing manual touch points, and simplify communication between clearing members and their clients. The development of this standard represents the first step towards automating the process.  

Samina Anwar, Director of Derivatives Operations at Cargill and Chair of the DMIST Sponsor Board, said: “Position transfers are vital for clients to manage risk and optimize margins effectively. Many clients face inefficiencies and delays due to varying processes across clearing brokers. A standardized template for requesting position transfers will streamline workflows, enhance accuracy, and significantly reduce errors in both requesting and booking transfers. 

Don Byron, Executive Director, DMIST: “Today’s release of the proposed standard continues DMIST efforts to address some long-standing pain points in the trading and clearing process. The standard is designed to improve efficiency, reduce risk and increase the speed at which a position transfer can be completed. Through this effort, DMIST continues to serve the industry as a driving force for consistency, resilience, and common-sense solutions.” 

Tim Hoopes, Executive Director, Morgan Stanley and Leader of the DMIST Position Transfer Working Group: “This is an exciting step toward improving an important process with longstanding challenges for the industry.  Not only does the proposed Position Transfer Standard provide immediate efficiency and risk reduction benefits to clients, clearing members, and CCPs by streamlining communication and reducing the need for data transformation, it also strengthens the pathways to increased automation of this process in the future. 

For questions regarding DMIST, contact Don Byron at  +1 202.772.3090  or dbyron@fia.org. Contact FIA Media Relations for other inquiries. 
 
DOWNLOAD PROPOSED STANDARD
Proposed standard 

The Consultation Paper: Standard Regarding Position Transfers recommends publishing a standard that establishes 1) a template clients can use to submit a Position Transfer Request to its Clearing Member(s) and a standard template for Clearing Members to more easily upload Position Transfer data to CCPs; and (2) a corresponding standard template for CCPs to adopt for receiving data from Clearing Members. 

It also seeks comment on the timing for simple and complex position transfers. It recommends that simple position transfers requested five hours ahead of the market clearing close be completed the same day. Complex position transfers that require exchange approval should be completed 48 hours ahead of the nearest market clearing close. The standard also recommends that the Client send the Client Request Form simultaneously to both the originating and receiving clearing members.  

The FIA Operations Americas Division, with input from FIA’s European and Asian Operations Committees, submitted a proposal to the DMIST Sponsor Board in May 2024 to standardize Position Transfers. The Sponsor Board approved the proposal and formed a DMIST Working Group, which reviewed and enriched the proposal.  

Don Byron: “This was the first time a standard was proposed by a group external to DMIST. The Division’s proposal not only laid the groundwork for the DMIST Working Group to draft a consultation paper, it sped up the process. We welcome standard proposals from members of the public as well as DMIST and FIA members.” 
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DMIST encourages widespread adoption of standards in the exchange-traded and cleared derivatives industry that will help make markets more efficient, resilient, and competitive for all.

DMIST has 35 members including executing and clearing brokers, exchanges and clearinghouses, clients and service providers. Approximately 200 representatives from these firms contribute to the identification, development and implementation of standards.

A Tradition of National Unity and Hope

By
STA
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By Jim Toes, STA President & CEO
Presidential inauguration addresses are a cornerstone of American democracy. More than mere ceremony, they provide an invaluable opportunity for the incoming president to articulate their vision, unify the nation, and inspire confidence in their leadership.
These speeches also serve as a moment of accountability, reminding the president of their solemn duty to uphold the Constitution and serve all Americans.
Throughout history, inaugural addresses have marked transformative moments for the nation. George Washington’s humility in his first inaugural speech set a standard for presidential leadership. Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address, delivered in the midst of the Civil War, emphasized healing and reconciliation. Decades later, John F. Kennedy’s iconic call to action inspired a generation to embrace public service.
Today, the nation witnesses its 60th inauguration address. At a time when our country is often divided by politics, we look to these remarks with hope that they will transcend partisanship, foster reflection, and serve as a unifying moment. In doing so, they remind us of our shared values and the enduring principles of democracy that bind us together. These ideals continue to offer the best hope for a brighter and more united future.
“The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”-George Washington, 1789
“With malice toward none, with charity for all.”- Abraham Lincoln, 1865
“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”- John F. Kennedy, 1961

FLASH FRIDAY: Paul Jiganti, Over and Out

By
Editorial Staff
-

FLASH FRIDAY is a weekly content series looking at the past, present and future of capital markets trading and technology. FLASH FRIDAY is sponsored by Instinet, a Nomura company.

Paul Jiganti recently bade farewell to the securities industry after a 40-year career.

Earlier this week, Traders Magazine caught up with the well-known trading and market structure veteran to hear about his past, present and future.

Paul Jiganti

How did you first get into the business? 

Out of college I interviewed for entry-level jobs at banks and the Fed, but I didn’t land anything. A friend of my older brother’s was on the trading floor at the Cboe — he knew I had been a runner on the Board of Trade for two summers, and he let me clerk for him.  Once I got on the floor that first day as a clerk, in 1985, I knew it was for me. It was the constant competition and action all day. 

It checked a lot of boxes. It was a job and I was 22 years old and needed one of those, but it was more than that. I saw that you had to work hard, but if you did the right things, you’d be rewarded financially in a totally merit-based way. That appealed to me.

So the real start of my career was with Rob Maine, who was wonderful to me and taught me the ethics of trading as well as trading itself. I traded for him for a year then he encouraged me to go out on my own. He was an incredibly generous guy. Trading went well until the early 1990s, when it got extremely slow. I was married with two small children and not making enough money. Fortunately I stood in a pit next to Jerry Steinborn, a partner at Susquehanna and a friend, and with the encouragement from my wife asked him if they needed any traders. He took me on and post Jerry’s retirement I ended up heading the office the last few years I was there, until late 2009. A great ride.

Briefly walk us through your career path after that, with Nasdaq, TD Ameritrade, and IMC?

Every place was important for me to learn and meet interesting people along the way. 

Eric Noll and I worked together at Susquehanna for years and we’re still close friends. He was at Nasdaq and asked if I would do a consulting job for them which I was happy to do, as it allowed me to meet retail firms and learn about an area that I knew little about. Unfortunately the new product that we introduced at Nasdaq wasn’t very successful, but it was good to meet a lot of people.

As that was winding down, JJ Kinahan and Steve Quirk, who were in leadership positions at TD Ameritrade’s Thinkorswim office in Chicago, suggested I apply for the recently vacated market structure and retail routing job. It was a uniquely entrepreneurial retail firm and as it turns out another great way to meet a new set of people in the industry.

While there Andrew Larson and Scott Knudsen at IMC were looking to get into wholesaling of equity options and approached me to help them start the project. Another very lucky find for me.

It was an amazing group of incredibly smart people at IMC – it reminded me of a young Susquehanna, but with more technology, being 20 years later. I remember they sat me down between two women who were in their mid- to late twenties, and I remember talking to them while thinking, “These are the smartest people I’ve been around in a long time.” They didn’t know the old business as well as some other people but I think that was part of their secret sauce. They weren’t stuck in outdated trading ideas, rather they were just looking for technological solutions. The reason I bring this up is the woman to my right is now IMC’s US CEO, and the one to my left is running trading.

Why did you stop trading and go down the other path?

I was a pretty good floor trader, but over time I recognized I wasn’t going to be a great screen trader. So at Susquehanna, I made the mental switch to put more energy into helping run the office and be on committees, and starting in the late nineties, I was on every committee I could find at the Cboe.

I understood my skill set. As a floor trader I was quick to react to requests for quotes, with the biggest wallet, Susquehanna’s money, and loud, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to the screen.

Looking back over your career, what would you cite as your biggest accomplishment? And when was the most challenging/difficult time?

The most difficult time was deciding to make the transition from an independent market maker to a big firm. Business and opportunity really dropped off in 1990 and 1991 – it zapped my finances. I wasn’t looking forward to another year of zero income. It was tough and gave me a lot to think about. Now at age 61, it’s hard to look back and believe I could sleep with all that uncertainty. But somehow it worked out.  

The biggest accomplishment was setting up the wholesaling business at IMC with DASH Financial. Dave Dooman and I ran around the country explaining how this combination will work and work well.  It created even more competition in a very competitive space where it is #2 by volume across the retail equity options.

When did you know it was time to step away? 

A couple of things gave me a nudge. One, I had circled this date for several years and once I mentally started down a path like that, it would have been tough to turn around. The second is, I wanted to leave with as much energy as I started. Before the pandemic I was on over 100 flights a year. Once we had hired an incredible backup, Shawn Cruz, I knew IMC would be just fine and arguably better without me. He is a better technologist than I am, has more energy, vision, and a lot of creative ideas. I know he’s the right guy to take the business to the next level. Shawn’s hiring and a series of back-to-back trips, led to a conversation where I mentioned to my wife that I was tired and getting sick of the grind, and for the first time ever she said, “So am I.” That was it, I knew the time was right. Everyone would be better off.

What’s your day-to-day like now? 

There are a few things. I’m consulting a bit with IMC, and I’m still on the board at MIAX. I also have a relationship with a software firm that touches our business and is starting to ramp up. So I’m still involved, but at a level that’s appropriate for the time that I want to spend. And my day-to-day is, to spend time at our house in the desert near Palm Springs, where I’ll be playing golf and hiking or biking every day. I’m trying to get back in shape after years of travel.

I have three daughters, hopefully I’ll have grandchildren at some point. I have three siblings who live within half a mile of me, in California and in Chicago area we are fortunate enough to have my wife’s three siblings and parents close by. Lots of family and I think that’s what it’s all about.

Any final thoughts?

I’ve had a great send-off from IMC, friends, and former colleagues which I really appreciate. Overall I’m just an incredibly fortunate person.

Buy Side Firms Gear Up to Integrate AI

By
Anna Lyudvig
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A significant 75% of buy-side leaders recognize the benefits of AI but need more guidance on its practical application for improving investment analysis, decision-making, risk management, data management and client engagement, according to SimCorp’s 2025 InvestOps Report.

“The results align with what we’re seeing in the market. What’s particularly interesting is that firms are taking a very practical approach – they’re focusing on areas like helping portfolio managers become more efficient with their existing processes, rather than trying to completely reinvent their investment approach,” Marc Schröter, Chief Product Officer at SimCorp, told Traders Magazine.

Marc Schröter

Based on a survey of 200 buy-side executives conducted by WBR Insights in Q4 of 2024, the report provides insights into the buy-side’s challenges and priorities entering into 2025. 

“While machine learning isn’t new to investment management, what has changed is the accessibility of large language models, such as ChatGPT,”  Schröter, commented.

He said that the real barriers are ensuring high-quality data, identifying valuable use cases, and establishing proper governance frameworks for data sharing and residency.

“We’re seeing widespread adoption of AI within the buy-side to improve productivity and operational efficiency,” he said.

“The most common use case is using large language models to query data and documents, but we’re also seeing other practical applications, such as standardizing unstructured data within private market investments and translating investment mandates into compliance constraints,” he added.

When asked how to measure the success of an AI tool in the investment process, the buy-side leaders prioritize increased efficiency in data cleaning (46%), followed by enhanced data visualization (42%) and accelerated time to insights (41%). 

The report also found that nearly half of respondents (47%) say their current data infrastructure is a combination of in-house and third-party solutions, leading to data challenges. 

The top three priorities for addressing these in the near term are building more standardized data models (67%), consolidating systems for a common data layer (65%), and utilizing AI tools for better insights and data predictability (65%). 

When asked about technology and operations, improving data and operations for multi-asset investment strategies (40%)ranked as the topinitiative that the buy-side organizations are planning to implement. 

The main challenge for front office teams is the inability to manage multi-assets in one view (60%), according to the findings. 

To effectively manage a multi-asset class portfolio — the primary challenge in supporting the front office – investment managers need a system architecture with a unified data layer that provides a total portfolio view in real time, with any changes made in one area of the business instantly reflected throughout the entire investment lifecycle for public and private markets. 

This is shown in the survey, where respondents plan to consolidate systems for a real time total portfolio view (64%) to address this challenge. 

“Data quality is absolutely fundamental to successful AI implementation,” Schröter stressed.

“Without clean, accurate data, AI can actually amplify flawed decisions rather than prevent them,” he added.

This is why buy-side firms need a centralized data strategy that creates a single source of truth across their organization, Schröter said. 

This foundation not only drives better decision-making but is essential for successfully using AI, he added.

While large language models are powerful at understanding questions, they still need to be connected to actual investment data and be able to translate a task into a concrete data query, according to Schröter.

For example, he said, when a portfolio manager asks about the duration of a portfolio, the large language model understands the concept, but it can’t calculate it directly. 

Instead, it needs to translate the request into a specific data query and call a function that knows how to perform these calculations, he added.

Schröter believes that the skillsets needed for buy-side professionals to work effectively with AI tools in their investment process go beyond just technical knowledge. 

Teams need to understand how to work with AI tools and generate effective prompts, but equally important are data modeling expertise and strong governance practices, he said.

“Professionals need the judgment to verify AI outputs, understand the underlying data models, and integrate these insights into existing investment processes while maintaining proper oversight,” he added.

When asked about the future of AI in the buy-side industry over the next 3-5 years, Schröter said that the evolution of AI can be seen in three primary steps. 

“The first is Conversational AI, where users ask questions via prompt and receive answers. Second comes AI Assistants, which can handle more complex tasks and learn from user interactions,” he said. 

“The third step is an autonomous copilot, where AI carries out tasks and suggests actions independent of user input. Looking ahead, we expect this will evolve into multiple autonomous copilots engaging with each other,” he concluded.

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